The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a major change at the quarterback position earlier in the offseason–signing NFL legend Tom Brady. One of the benefits of having Brady on your team is the wisdom he brings.
During Brady’s long tenure with the New England Patriots, he gained no shortage of understanding of how to win and what it takes on a daily basis for a team to thrive. For the Buccaneers, they have sorely lacked this.
This has already been experienced by O.J. Howard early in the Buccaneers’ training camp, who recently described how he receives teaching points of something new to help make him better every day.
“When Tom does that,” Howard said, via Peter King of NBC Sports. “It’s huge for me to hear. I worked on that all offseason, a bad habit I had to break. He puts it in my head every day. That’s what a true leader does. He does it in a humble way. So chill. That’s Tom Brady, one of the best to ever play our game, and every day he’s got something for me to make me better.”
A particular case where Brady helped adjust Howard’s approach came through extensive film study. On vertical routes, Howard would slow down and Brady made it clear he needs to ‘keep those shoulders square’ and to not slow down for the ball.
“You hit it on the head,” Howard said. “That’s Tom coaching me. Tom’s been coaching a lot of guys one-on-one.
“When he says, ‘Shoulders square,’ if you watch me on film, and he watched me, watched me a lot, I’d be running a vertical route, not going as fast as I should have. That’s because I’d be running a vertical route, but I’d look back and it’d slow me down. He’d say, ‘Keep those shoulders square. Don’t slow down for me. Six, eight yards, pump your arms, sell it like a go route—I’ll get you the ball.”
There is already plenty of established talent on the Buccaneers’ offense between Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and of course, Rob Gronkowski. For Tampa Bay’s star receiver duo, they could certainly still pick up a thing or two from daily practices with Brady.
For players like Howard who have yet to take the expected leap in their development, Brady will be especially helpful. Even rookies like Tristan Wirfs will benefit as they work through potential growing pains that come from entering the NFL.
Where it will be especially beneficial for the Buccaneers is on defense. They already have grown accustomed to accounting for the dynamic talent Jameis Winston provided, but now, they will have different looks to have to account for with Brady.
Overall, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers appear to be in a position where they can contend in the NFC South with Tom Brady. It will not be easy considering the teams they will have to face, but don’t count out a Brady-led team too early.
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